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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

How to use NMON and NMON Analyser to obtain detailed system performance data from AIX and Linux operating systems

When
troubleshooting MicroStrategy Intelligence Server performance issues,
it is often helpful to get data on general system performance, such as
CPU usage, file system activity, memory load, as well as system
configuration details. There is a freely-available utility called NMON
which collects extensive data in AIX and Linux environments. A companion
tool, NMON Analyser, formats the raw data into separate Microsoft Excel
worksheets with activity graphs.

Solaris has a similar type of logging, called SAR logs. NMON Analyser may not be used with SAR logs.

Issues for which this data might be useful include but are not limited to the following:

Slow MicroStrategy Intelligence Server performance

Hanging issues with MicroStrategy Intelligence Server

Out of memory issues that are not due to
memory space fragmentation (fragmentation should generally not be a
problem in 64-bit systems)

NMON comes in two versions: nmon for 32-bit systems, and nmon64
for 64-bit systems. Since MicroStrategy Intelligence Server Universal
is certified only for 64-bit systems, nmon64 should be used.

Data volume is an important consideration when
using NMON, particularly if the NMON Analyser is going to be used.
Because NMON Analyser is a Microsoft Excel worksheet, there is an
inherent limitation on the number of rows that may be imported. Nigel
Griffiths, the author of NMON, recommends no more than 300-600 snapshots
be taken in a single NMON file. Also, if the snapshots are too close
together, it can be more difficult to discern trends. Snapshots should
generally be taken no more often than one snapshots per 5-10 seconds,
preferably less frequently.

NMON's commandline parameters include the number of
snapshots to take (-c for count) and the number of seconds between
snapshots (-s). Thus, for single file logging, divide the total logging
duration in seconds by the number of snapshots desired. For example, to
capture one hour's worth of information and take 600 samples, 3600
seconds / 600 samples = 6 seconds/sample. In this case, the command
would be:

nmon64 -c 600 -s 6 -T -F /location/of/log-file.nmon

If logging is needed for a longer duration than can fit comfortably into one file, there are two options.

A shell script may be used to launch nmon64
periodically with a new filename each time. This would produce a series
of .nmon files that can be opened individually in NMON Analyser.

NMON Analyser ships with a Perl script to
divide a long .nmon file into several shorter ones. Consult the NMON
Analyser documentation that ships with the analyzer for more details.

NOTE: While nmon64 is running, it switches
to a background thread and returns control to the shell. It may look
like the utility has hung, but this is normal operation. If it is
behaving correctly, the size of the output file will increase
periodically, based on the sampling interval.

Using NMON Analyser

NMON Analyser is a Microsoft Excel workbook with a
Visual Basic backend that reads the raw text output from NMON,
distributes the different types of data across multiple worksheets, and
produces charts of activity over time.

To execute the analyzer on an NMON output file, perform the following steps:

Ensure that Microsoft Excel is configured to allow
macro execution. To check, go to Tools -> Macros -> Security. The
security level should be Medium. (Low security will work also, but it
is not recommended to prevent inadvertent execution of macro viruses.)

A file-open dialogue will be presented. Navigate to the NMON file to be processed.

After processing is complete, the user is
prompted for a location and filename under which to save the resulting
Microsoft Excel workbook.

Important: Some combinations of Microsoft
Excel and MicroStrategy Office versions may not be able to execute NMON
Analyser. If a Visual Basic error appears after clicking the 'Analyse
nmon data' button, do the following to resolve the issue:

Open the MicroStrategy Office options by clicking
on the 'Options' button in the MicroStrategy Office toolbar. The options
may also be reached from the Start menu -> Programs ->
MicroStrategy -> Office -> Configuration.

The third-party product(s) discussed in this
technical note is manufactured by vendors independent of MicroStrategy.
MicroStrategy makes no warranty, express, implied or otherwise,
regarding this product, including its performance or reliability.

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